Fujitsu U.S. subsidiary, 401(k) plan sued over high fees
Reprints
Current and former members of a Fujitsu Ltd. 401(k) plan have sued plan executives and Fujitsu’s American subsidiary alleging the plan violated its ERISA duties by paying high fees for investment options.
According to the lawsuit, Johnson et al. vs. Fujitsu Technology and Business of America Inc. et al., plan executives “failed to utilize the least expensive share classes for many mutual funds with the plan.”
The lawsuit was filed June 30 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Plaintiffs are seeking class-action status.
Plan executives paid record-keeping expenses “far in excess of what a prudent fiduciary would pay for those same services,” the complaint said. “Defendants systematically failed to manage the plan’s investments in a cost-conscious manner.”
The complaint also argued that the plan had offered an “imprudently” designed and implemented a custom target-date fund series. Until July 31, 2015, the lawsuit said defendant Shepherd Kaplan L.L.C., an investment adviser, was a “named investment fiduciary” that designed the custom target-date series. The firm was replaced as “named investment fiduciary” by Callan Associates, the lawsuit said. In March, the Fujitsu 401(k) plan replaced the target-date series with a new series designed by Callan, the lawsuit added.
The Fujitsu Group Defined Contribution and 401(k) Plan had $1.33 billion in assets at the end of 2014, according to a Form 5500 filing with the Department of Labor.
Representatives from Fujitsu could not be reached by press time.
Robert Steyer writes for Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Business Insurance.
Read Next
-
MassMutual settles 401(k) suit with employees for $31 million
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. has agreed to a nearly $31 million settlement in an excessive-fee lawsuit involving the firm's own retirement plans, joining the ranks of other prominent retirement services providers that have settled allegations over their company 401(k) plans.
Related Stories
-
MassMutual settles 401(k) suit with employees for $31 million
-
Retirement plan administrator settles 401(k) suit with own employees
-
Investment adviser's employees sue over excessive 401(k) fees
